Rolling-mill repeater



Sept. 9 1924. 1,507,941

' A. J. TOWNSEND ROLLING MILL REPEATER Filed Jan. 14. 1921 sSheets-Sheet. 1

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gwuento'o Townsend Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

t UNITED STATES ARTHUR J. 'rownsnnn, or oan'ron, onro.

ROLLING-MILL REPEATER.

Application filed January 14, 1921. Serial No. 437,312.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. TOWNSEND, 'a citizen of the United States,residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of 6 Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rolling-Mill Repeaters,of which the followingisia specification.

The invention relates to a repeating mechanism for. rolling mills,andthe object of the improvement is to provide means ,for returning astrip or long sheet or thin plate of metal directly from one mill toanother laterally adjacent mill without either stoppin or reversing themovement of the strip.

C ommon practice has been to run the material entirely" through one milland then to stop andtransfer' the same laterally, and finally passing itby a reverse movement 7 through a laterally adjacent mill; which severaloperations involve a considerable loss of time, and not only increasethe cost of production, but render it diflicult, if not impossible, toroll the lighter gauges. A direct return from one mill to a laterallyadjacent mill has sometimes-been accomplished manually by grasping thefor-' ward end of the material with tongs, as it emerges from one mill,and carrying and entering it as quickly as possible into the laterallyadjacent mill; which-method of operation is not only slow and costly,but involves a great danger to the workmen tgrmged therein.

Thepresent improvement involves the use of a repeater drum mounted uponan upright axis, with guide chutes leading from and to laterallyadjacent mills, the one chute turning the strip from ahorizontal towarda transverse upright position for passing around the drum, and the otherchute returning the strip from the other side of the drum into atransverse horizontal position for properly entering the other mill.

The improvement also contemplates the use of an endless cabletransmission gearing, for carrying the striparound the repeater drum,the laterally adjoining strands of the cable forming a belt contmuouslycovering the entire width of the drum so as to carry narrow strips aswell as com paratively wide strips around the same with equal facility.I 7

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying draw- Fi 4, a section of the chutes .on IV- V, Fig. 2;

F vii,

5, a section of the chutes on line Fig. 2; and

.Fig. 6, a section of the chutes on line VI-VI, Fig. 2.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The repeater mechanism 1 is located in rear of the first mill 2 and infront of the laterally adjacent mill 3; and the guide chute 4 leads fromthe first mill to one side of the repeater, and the guide chute 5 leadsfrom the other side of the repeater to the second mill. 1 The repeatermechanism .includes the main drum 6 mounted to operate upon an uprightaxis 7, and may have a smooth face 8 which may be provided withperipheral flanges 9 on its side edges.

Pulley drums 10 and 10 are mounted to operate upon an upright axis ateach side of the main drum 6 in front of the median line thereof, and athird pulley drum 11 is located in rear of the main drum 6 in thelongitudinal median line thereof; all

of which pulley drums are preferably grooved on their faces in the usualmanner for carrying the endless cable 12, which operates around thepulley drums and the rear half of the periphery of the main drum,

.as well shown in Fig. 2.

Two idle sheaves 13 and 13 mounted on transverse axes, and a pendentsheave 14 with a weight 15 depending therefrom, may be provided in frontof the pulley drum 11; around which sheaves the endless cable is passedfor properly tensioning the same; and the repeater mechanism thus formedmay be driven by a motor 16 carried to one of the grooved drums as 10'.

It is evident that the adjacent coils of' the endless cable forms asubstantially continuous belt around the rear half of the face of themain drum 6 and covering the whole width thereof, and also that a stripor sheet of metal entered between the cable line belt and one side ofthe drum will be carried around the rear side thereof, and will 7 chuteis in a transverse horizontal plane to receive a strip or sheet as itemerges from the rolls of the first mill, whence the bottom of the chuteis spirally twisted, as well shown in Fi 3 of the drawings, so that theouter side the chute is raised with reference to the inner side forbringing the bottom of the chute toward a transverse upright plane atthe delivery end thereof; w ich twisting ma be accom lished, as wellshown in Fig. 1 o the drawings, by inclining the outer edge of the chuteupward and the inner edge slightly downward, so as th bring the deliveryend adjacent to the receivmg side of the repeater..

The ide chute5 extends from the delivery side of the repeater to thereceiving side of the mill 3, the rolls 17 of which are preferablylocated in a lower plane than the rolls 18 of the first mill. The bottomof y the receiving end of this chute is located in a transverse inclinedlane with its lower inner side substantia y in line with the lower edgeof the delivery side of the repeater, with its bottom inclined upwardand outward therefrom; whence the bottomof the chute is twisted andinclined downward into a transverse horizontal plane at its delivery endportion adjacent to the receivin side of the roll 17 of the second mill3. e receiving end 19 of the chute 5 is preferably flared to morecertainly guide a strip or sheet into the chute, and its inner flange 20at the same end may be extended upward and curved inward for asubstantial distance to deflect the upper edge of a strip or sheetoutward to lie upon the bottom of the guide chute as it travels thereintoward the second mill. )7

Anti-friction rollers 21 of the usual character may be provided'in thebottoms of the chutes, as'shown for portions thereof in the drawings,and it is evident that when a strip or sheet of metal is delivered bythe rolls of the first mill, it. will travel forward in the guide chute4, and will be gradually twisted from a hor zontal glane toward atransverse upright plane at t e delivery and of the chute; whence it iscaught between the drum and cable-belt of the repeater, and carried inupright position around the drum to the delive side thereof; whence itis received in the inclined end of the guide chute 5, wherein it isturned back into a transverse horizontal 1plane at the delivery endthereof for proper y entering between the rolls 17 of the second mill.

by these means a strip or sheet is guided and conveyed from one milloperating in one direction, to an adjacent mill operating in a differentdirection, by being twisted from -a horizontal to a trans verse upri htplane, and then after hein turns to a different ,direction, is

=2 twisted back into atransverse horizonstopping or reversing the motionof the strip, which is carried front end foremost from one to another ofthe two adjacent mills, operating in different directions.

Obviously the broad invention is not limited inap licationto adjacentmills located side by sidb and operating reversely in paralleldirections, nor is use of a re ater mechanism employing an endless cab ebelt eitheressential to the general combination set forth or limitedthereto; but the laterally adjacent arrangement of the mills ispreferred for economy of space, and the cale-belt gearing is preferredin any relation for more uniform and efiicient action, and in theparticular combination, because the coils of the cable can be inclinedupward in their travel around the main drum, thus preventing anytenden?for the strip or sheet to sag downwar when passin in transverse uprightposition from one o ute to the other.

I claim 1. A rolling. mill repeater including a drum rotatable on anaxis at anangle to a horizontal plane, and an endless belt operatingaround one side of the drum, for carrying a strip or the like around thedrum. 2A rolling -mill repeater including a drum rotatable on an axis atan angle to a horizontal plane, and an endless cable belt operatingaround one side of the drum, for

piarryinga strip or the like around the rum.

ARTHUR 'J. TOWNSEND.

